ABSTRACT
Aprodigious wave of enthusiasm swept over German youth at the outbreak of the world war in 1914. Many group leaders were called up in the very first days of the war, others volunteered, and the girls put themselves at the disposal of the Red Cross. As the months went by, however, and a certain war-time normality was established, the meetings and outings were resumed, albeit on a smaller scale. As a result of the war the importance of the girls in the movement grew even more; in some branches boys were now a minority, and the girl leaders had assumed a leading position on the regional level. The Freideutsche youth was hit more severely than the Wandervogel by the war, for a greater proportion of its members were of military age. Whether there were not more pressing problems during the First World War, and whether the Freideutsche was the ideal forum for a debate so inconclusive by nature and necessity.
